Rechtsextremismus

We should all be against pedophilia, that’s fine, right? Yes, and also not like this,’ says McMaster prof. White supremacist groups are using issues of wider interest — like pedophilia — and disinformation to recruit new members and build support, according to experts in Canada and the U.S. A McMaster University professor in Hamilton says, in the wake of another demonstration by Hamilton-based group Nationalist-13, that should be worrying. Understanding how these groups are recruiting should also inform how elected officials, police and others combat hate, Ameil Joseph, a McMaster University social work associate professor, said in an interview this week. On Sunday, neo-Nazi group Nationalist-13 gathered in front of city hall dressed all in black, wearing masks and performing a Nazi salute, according to pictures viewed by CBC Hamilton. Members of the group were also seen in pictures holding a banner that said “no mercy for pedo scum.” (,..) Joseph said these hate demonstrations can’t be looked at as one-offs, but rather as a growing, organized movement that institutions need to be worried about. Nationalist-13, also known as NS13, is a group known as a fight club, also called an active club within white nationalist circles. As reported by CBC, active clubs are part of a white supremacist and neo-Nazi network that has grown globally in recent years, increasingly moving from online forums to real-world training groups and anti-immigration protests. Active clubs were also found to be training in Hamilton parks. These training sessions are also part of the groups’ recruitment and propaganda. Joseph said extremist hate groups also make antisemitic claims related to pedophilia conspiracy theories. He pointed to research from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a legal advocacy group dedicated to fighting extremism in the U.S., that looks at that link. In the research, the SPLC says neo-Nazi groups claim Jewish people manipulate society to erode “traditional” family and social norms. The research also points to these groups’ anti-2SLGBTQ+ views.

via cbc: White supremacist groups using pedophilia conspiracies to grow support, warns Hamilton researcher

Far right actors have used gaming to recruit youngsters for some time but experts say they are increasingly using codes and imagery to avoid moderation. Far-right groups are increasingly using coded language and imagery on gaming platforms to bypass content moderators and radicalise young people, experts have warned.  Extremists use gaming as an initial place of a bonding before directing young people to platforms like Telegram and Discord where the content becomes more overtly ideological and racist. The phrase “fighting age males” and words like “invaders” are often used by far-right groups like Britain First and Patriotic Alternative to depict asylum seekers and refugees as security threats. Experts say both groups are active in online gaming and streaming. Academics spoke to The Ferret following revelations that Scotland’s terrorism prevention programme witnessed a record number of referrals last year – with the highest proportion made over far right concerns. There were 162 referrals in 2024/25, an increase of 42 per cent compared to the previous year – and 38 per cent related to extreme right wing concerns. There are also fears that more teenagers could be groomed online due to rising youth unemployment in the UK. ar right groups recruit online and British and US intelligence agencies have previously warned that extremists exploit the gaming environment to target young people.  Call of Duty, a first-person military shooter game, has been used by far-right groups as a recruiting tool for teenage gamers, as has Minecraft, an “open world’ creative building game often played by younger children. Both games have millions of online players. Online gaming involves interactive gameplay with real-time conversations, often anonymously, creating relationships among users that might not exist in the real world and experts warn this environment provides opportunities for groups to target young people who may be susceptible to extremist messaging. (…) The proscribed neo-Nazi terror group Atomwaffen Division is also believed to target gamers. In 2018, the BBC revealed it had found several individuals in the UK corresponding with its members over Discord, an online gaming chat platform. They launched their own group known as Sonnenkrieg Division, which was later proscribed. It was linked to the now banned System Resistance Network, which was active in Dundee, as reported by The Ferret. “They’re looking out for individuals that might be expressing grievances, young people that might align with their ideology,” Allchorn said. “They’re inhabiting spaces, usually with an anonymised profile, using language that they know won’t trigger automated moderation.”  Code words used include “great replacement” which alludes to a conspiracy theory and “14” or “14 words” which is numeric shorthand tied to a white supremacist slogan. Hidden symbols to circumvent banned words that would be picked up by automated moderation tools, Allchorn added, including symbols stitched together to represent a swastika. They’re looking out for individuals that might be expressing grievances, young people that might align with their ideology. They’re inhabiting spaces, usually with an anonymised profile, using language that they know won’t trigger automated moderation. — Dr William Allchorn, Anglia Ruskin University After initial contact in gaming spaces, conversations frequently move to encrypted apps, where explicit white supremacist propaganda appears. “The gaming space functions as the discovery layer,” Allchorn said, adding that the “ideological consolidation” occurs in private channels on platforms like Discord where conversations shift toward grievance narratives including migration, cultural replacement, masculinity, and anti-LGBT rhetoric.

via TheFerret: ‘Fighting age males’ and coded swastikas: How the far-right is using gaming to recruit the next generation of Nazis